


Things Get Colder When the Sun Comes Up

by 101SakuraKiss, A_Dozen_Scarlett_Roses



Category: DMMd, DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Multi, Other, Polyamory, Prostitution
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-09
Updated: 2016-07-10
Packaged: 2018-04-08 10:32:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4301358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/101SakuraKiss/pseuds/101SakuraKiss, https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Dozen_Scarlett_Roses/pseuds/A_Dozen_Scarlett_Roses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aoba and Sei's parents suddenly have their lives taken from them while driving Tae-san home. The boys, 18, are left with no family and out of luck for jobs. Eventually they hit an all time low and go to their last resort of selling themselves to 2 local pimps, Trip and Virus. They're branded with morphine tattoo's Aoba's on his side and Sei's on his back. It's been 5 years of sexual, verbal, and physical abuse and Aoba is looking for any way out of it. But what will he choose once heaven comes along but looks like hell on wheels?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE READ  
> Note that this is fanfiction and strays from the canon. AOBA AND SEI STILL HAVE NERVE HAIR.  
> Thank you.

The sun was rising, painting the city in a pastel purple hue and in the silence of the morning you could hear a pair of shoes dragging though puddles in the pavement. Tired and sore, Aoba pushed his way though the door and collapsed onto the hardwood floor, however, knowing his job wasn’t done yet he heaved himself off the ground and quietly crept into the room of the two people he hated, yet, relied on most, Trip and Virus, they called themselves family, Aoba saw them as nothing more than pimps. And carefully pulled a wad of money from his back pocket and placed it on the side table. Then, while they were still asleep he tip toed his way up to the attic and silently pushed open the door.  
“Sei!” The dark haired boy looked up from his kneeling position among various lightly colored, stained, comforters and his dry lips perked up into a weak smile.  
“Aoba.” The blue haired boy ran over to his twin and the two embraced each other. It was rare times like this that Aoba cherished. Sei was his only family left and even then, they never saw each other, between Aoba out at night,tending to Trip and Virus, getting what little sleep he did during the day and Sei being locked up with clients at all hours, it was hard to find any time for the two to be together. Aoba looked over his brothers broken body. He had chapped, dry, lips, he was thin as ever, covered in bruises that varied from light purple to dark green and his shackled ankles were scratched, red, and clearly bled often from struggling friction. In addition to all that Sei’s hair was shorter than the last time Aoba had seen it, now it was just above his shoulders.  
“Oh god, Sei! What did they do to you?” This of course was a dumb question, it would be easier to list what people haven’t done to him, after all, Sei was special. In the underground he was known as the “blind princess” and you had to go to Virus and Trip and put in a request to see him. But most would say the wait and extra cash was worth it, every toy, strap,whip,restraint, etc. was available to you but only for him as long as you followed the rule not to take off hie eye mask.  
“I-I said no to someone again. They got mad and left so when Trip and Virus found out they-they cut it! Aoba it hurt so much!” Sei broke out into sobs and buried his face in his brothers shoulder. Aoba gently rubbed Sei’s back and wispered,”Shhhh, shhhh, I know, I know. I swear we’ll get out of here someday, we’ll get our tattoos removed and we’ll live together and it will all be okay,” In his heart Aoba believed that somehow this dream would be achievable, somehow, someway,”I’ll be right back,” He hated the face Sei made when he pulled away he looked so desperate for tender contact, his faced begged “don’t leave me” but Aoba could tell his twin was dehydrated so as quickly as he could he snuck down the stairs and came back with a glass of tap water,”Drink this.” Sei took the glass and Aoba watched him drink one small sip at a time until the cup was empty.  
Trip and Virus would be awake soon so Aoba was forced to say goodbye to his brother with a kiss on the forehead and a forced smile. He went downstairs and curled into a ball of the couch and let loose the tears he had been holding back, whenever he saw Sei. He fell asleep to the thought of what life would be like if his parents hadn’t died. He dreamt about the same thing. He dreamt of him and Sei arguing over who got the last slice of pizza, getting sent off to collage, laughing with friends he hadn’t yet made, and falling in love with a beautiful girl. However all these dreams were ripped away. With a sharp punch to his stomach.  
“Rise and shine,” Virus’ cold voice rang above him,”were is it? The money, tell me! Because you did no come back here empty handed!” Aoba opened his mouth to reply but all that came out was a choking scream when Virus grabbed a clump of blue hair and yanked on it hard,”do have any idea what I’ll-”  
“Virus!” his head snapped to the taller blonde approaching him,”It was under the side table and its big.” Trip tossed the wad to Virus who let go of Aoba’s hair and caught it.  
“Aoba, look at that! You’ve been busy, havent you?” No reply,”That’s our boy,” don’t say it,”Love you.” Aoba suddenly felt sick and his eyes felt watery again. It was like a triggered reaction to whenever someone said those words, after all that was the last thing his parents said to him and to hear it come from other people disgusted him.  
“Come on! Not with that shit again!” Virus snapped when he noticed the tears streaming down the mans cheeks.  
“It’s been 5 goddamn years! Get over it!” Trip joined in. The verbal assault continued until, Aoba guessed, they just got bored with it. And that was Aoba’s life for the most part. It was nothing but verbal and sexual abuse everyday since he was 18. Sometimes he wished he was able to just kill himself and end it all, but he couldn’t do that do Sei.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay honestly I am fully aware this chapter could have been better but I really didn't have a plan for it but I definitely do for the next one!

When the sun left the sky and people were finished heading home from respectable jobs to loving families it was time for Aoba to dress out for the night and leave to parade himself up and down the streets. After cops were able to spot people selling them self a mile away purely based on outfits prostitutes and pimps had to become more creative when It came to telling the street smart people exactly what they were selling. The obvious solution was tattoos at the time and it hasn’t changed since. So, for what little clothing Aoba owned, every top was cut and hemmed to show off his midriff and considering it was winter he wasn’t exactly looking forward to going out tonight, not that he ever looked forward to doing his ‘job’.  
Winter was the worst season the the Aoba’s opinion. His face would be flushed and submissive looking, his body would get stiff, and as soon as he was done, is was back out into the cold, wet, night. Tonight he went out in tight black leggings,no underwear, as was normal at this point, a sheer black skirt just above his knees, knee high boots, and just a black hoodie, he figured at maybe this would at least keep him from dying even if everything was very breezy.   
“Fuck,” Aoba said to himself after the second call of the night,”It’s colder than I expected.” He rubbed his arms and exposed skin for any warmth he could get out of it but his fingers felt like ice, it hurt his joints to move so much and it was usually right as they would loosen up he would be kicked out from whatever venue he was brought to.   
He’d just about given up for the night when two men approached him but instead of the normal unnecessary flirting one of the men threw is arm around the blue-haired boy and before he could protest he felt something cold and sharp press aganst his side. He was slammed into a wall of a nearby ally and was gagged and restrained by one of the men while the other started to undress him. He struggled against him but only ended up with two long cuts, one on his side and the other on his hip. Just when he was about to give up hope and give in-SLAM! A large figure had kicked the man stripping Aoba straight into the frosted pavement and the one restraining him let go and was trying to run away but was stopped with two blows, one to his abdomen the the other to his jaw. Aoba gathered himself to thank the man but before he could say anything a cloth that smelled of heavy chemicals was placed over his mouth and nose, he fell into the mans chest and everything went black.  
When he awoke, Aoba looked around to see were he was, and realized he was on his doorstep, he looked himself over after remembering the man from the night before;he had no new marks on him except for the cuts from his attackers, he still had his money-wait there was more then he remembered after counting. There was a long grey coat covering him that smelled like leaves and warm cinnamon. Picking himself up he went inside to clean out the cuts. Tossing his coats on the couch he walked into the kitchen and started to dab away the dried blood, that stung on contact with his side but even more so on his hip. And when that was done he threw away the paper towel, threw off his boots and went to see if Virus and Trip were sleeping.   
But they were gone, the pair had left in the afternoon the day prior after hearing that someone had seen Mizuki, who went missing last year after going out one night. Aoba really missed him, they had been friends before someone had, supposably, kidnaped and or killed him. These thoughts were pushed aside when he realized that meant Sei, was alone and they could see each other again. With that he ran upstairs with food and water for his brother.   
“Sei!” He pushed open the door,”I brought you some food.” slowly he set it down on the dusty floor and lightly shook the dark-haired man to consciousness, who weakly smiled at him in return. Aoba,helped him eat and drink, witch took a while but it made the blue-haired twin happy to do anything he could for Sei. They talked and hugged and smiled together but Aoba knew it was a bad idea to stay for too long, so when what he decided was enough time passed he got up and said goodbye but when he was about to step though the door Sei spoke up.  
“I want to die.”   
“What?” Aoba pulled himself back and looked at Sei, wide eyed.  
“Please. I want to die. Will-can you kill me?”   
“No.”  
“But-”  
“No ‘buts’-How could you ask me something like that? I told you how were going to live someday and I meant it!” Sei didn’t say anything after that and Aoba left. When he got back to the couch he put his face in his hands and just thought about what his brother had asked him to do. His mind raced at 100mph but when he put his hands down one brushed against the unfamiliar coat from before. He held it close and somehow the smell and size of the coat made him feel like everything would be okay.  
“Just one step at a time.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOOOO Guess who relized they forgot to indent! Guess who also realized they don't know how to do that with the HTML format? This person! So, just know that after I figure that out I'll fix it, this chapter was edited really quickly so yeah, but I was really exited to upload it and I hope I was able to write Trip and Virus a bit better than last time, enjoy!

When Virus and Trip returned home later that evening they had no luck in their search and decided that Mizuki was most likely dead and it was nothing more than more out of pocket profit. Aoba stayed quiet but had so much to say. Mizuki was not just property and money lost. Mizuki was a person and a friend! Honestly how could other people view someone like that. Then again, those two, in Aoba’s eyes, were barely human.   
“It’s not like we can’t just find some other desperate kid looking for work and a place to stay.” Trip waves his hand dismissively.  
“That’s not the point. It’s that somebody to our stuff!” Virus snapped, adjusting his glasses,”But I guess it can’t be helped. I’ve heard lots of men and women of the night have been going missing for the past year or so so at least it was just him.”  
“Just him!” Aoba couldn’t bite his tongue any longer, and he tossed the rag he was using to clean on the floor,”he’s a person! A real human being and you talk about him like he was just a toy!”  
“No, dear, thats you. He was a pawn, something to be used and disposed of, you are the toy, we play with you and actually want keep you.”   
“I-I am not a toy! I’m a human being, I may be under contract with you people but I’m still a person!”  
“Aw, he thinks he’s people,” the blonde stood up and strode over to Aoba, who hadn’t realized he’d trapped himself against a wall until it was too late. Virus snatched his face with his hand and made Aoba look up at him,”You. Are. Property.” Aoba was frozen, he couldn’t say anything else, thats when Virus told Trip to pull Aoba by his wrists to their bedroom.  
“You need to lean that you’re just a rag doll, a plaything.”  
Aoba hated when the blondes would touch him and he blamed himself when ever it happened but the worst part was that over the years he’s been with them they learned everything about his body; his sweet spots; the right places to make his knees weak; and how to make him beg and moan. This time it was clear they were just doing it to make him feel humiliated. Virus pressed his cold lips to a high point on the blue haired mans neck making him take a sharp inhale while Trip grazed his fingertips around his hips and gently dragged them down his inner thigh making his body shutter. The pair toyed with him until he was absolutely at his limit and when he was silently begging for one of them to keep going, they stopped. They got up and walked to the door were Virus stopped.  
“Toys can’t do anything on there own.” Now Aoba was left with his hands handcuffed to the bed above him was left alone , hips grinding against the air looking for any kind of friction until his body cooled and he stopped fighting.  
Newly broken, with a dead-eyed stare, Aoba waited for one of them to come back and unlock the cuffs and ask him what he’d learned. When Trip finally came back with the keys, however, he was lets go and instead of what lesson he’d learned it was to clean himself off and get ready early. The 23 year old sat in the bathtub with the shower running for a long time, thinking,”Am I really just a property, a toy, a helpless rag doll?” He looked down at his hands and noticed his wrists were red and sore,”How could I let them do this to me.” When he finally did get out Aoba went to sit on couch awaiting his next orders.  
“Oh dolly,please come over here,” Aoba looked up to see Virus standing next to a kitchen chair with Trip who looked to have a few lengths of white cloth in his hands. He listened to the orders and sat in the chair and just when he wast starting to think he was safe again two of the cloths was used to tie his hands to the chair and one was used to gag him and thats when Aoba heard it, a pair of scissors.  
“I’ve heard it’s easer to cut wet hair.” Aoba’s heart pounded but he knew he couldn’t do anything to stop the punishment and he was terrified then for the next ten minutes was filled with Aoba’s muffled, choking, screams as tears streamed down his face and Trip tried to hold him still wile Virus cut an inch of his hair a little bit at a time, lining it up and making sure every cut was uniform.   
“I-I’m leaving now, Aoba said shyly as soon as the night had finally grown late enough to go.   
“Hold on,” Virus stopped him,”What have we learned about today?”  
“I am,” he paused,”I am property.”  
“Good, now get out.” With that he left clutching what he had suck into his hoodie close to his chest: the long, grey, cinnamon scented, jacket witch he put on over said hoodie as soon as he was out of sight. When the sky was still pitch black but the night had given Aoba all that he needed he was about to start his way home when the roar of a motorcycle engine drew closer and temporally stopped next to him, rumbling under the rider.  
“Get on.” The tall, dark, man on the bike ordered more then asked.  
“You know what I’m selling?” Honesty, for some reason, he felt as though it was necessary to ask. He nodded and Aoba cautiously got on to the bike that sped away as soon as his arms were around the mans waist. H felt like he’d made a mistake trusting this man until he leaned forward and,”Cinnamon.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just going to indent like that for now. Sorry about it being so late wifi problems. Anyhow, I tried to make this one a tiny bit longer but ya know, anyway enjoy!
> 
> EDIT: 8/6/15 Please dont think ive forgotten about this fic Ive just been super tired latly and mega busy I really am trying to work on it im very sorry

The ride was long, however, Aoba felt safe, that was until they left the city and were suddenly going on an off-road path into the woods at rested on the edge of the urban jungle, thats when the feeling he had made a mistake returned. As the sun crept into the sky they finally slowed down, and looking ahead Aoba saw a modest home laid in between the trees and sure enough, that’s where they stopped.

“Not that it’s a big deal,” a lie,”but I should be back soon so can you make this quick?” No answer. The taller man led the blue-haired boy inside.  
“Oh, this is yours, right?” Aoba said, pulling off the grey coat he had on over him.  
“Yeah,” He took the coat,”Sit down.” Aoba did as he was told, sitting and a lage wooden table with a lot more chairs than it looked like this guy needed.  
“Ahhhh! Mink, you’re home!” A man with white hair and one of the biggest smiles Aoba had seen in a long time ran into the room, still in his pajamas,”I was getting worried!”  
“Clear, could you make me and our gest some coffee?” Clear nodded and walked into the kitchen parallel to the large table. Now Aoba was really confused, obviously he wasn’t here for what he thought he was, then again, he knew he should have figured that out a while ago.  
“What’s your name?” Mink asked leaning back and folding his arms.  
“Aoba.”  
“Aoba, I’m going to offer you something and you can accept it or I’ll take you back to the city. I help out men like you: sex workers who did it as a last resort, maybe they were forced into it, maybe they did it just to feel. But now, they have no way out. That’s were I come in, I find you and make you dissappear, and I give you a new life and a new home. Thats what I did for Clear.” The white-haired man placed two mugs of coffee on the table with a basin of milk and dish of sugar, then joined the two at the table.  
“Mink got me out of a really bad place. He gave me a home and more love than I ever dreamed of.” Clear looked at Mink with eyes full of admiration. Aoba was shocked, that was the last thing he expected to hear today. Was he really being offered a home? A real home? But how did he know this wasn’t a trap? How could he be sure they wern’t trying to kidnap him?  
“So....you’re offering to let me stay here?” Mink nodded,”Do I have to say now or can I think about it?”  
“You can stay for as long as you need to make up your mind. However, it’s not a good idea to stay more than a week, the boys I bring back after that arn’t usually around for much longer.”  
“Alright, I guess, I guess I’ll stay until I make up my mind.” 

After that, Aoba took a nap on the couch until the smell of breakfast foods woke him up. He looked over to see Clear in the kitchen, cooking, and piling food onto large serving plates and putting them on the table.  
“Good morning, Aoba! Sit down, everyone will be getting up soon!” He did so, wondering to himself, exactly how many people lived here for there to be so much food? As promised people soon started walking in. The first was a blond with more facial piercings than Aoba knew you could have.  
“Mink brought home another stray!” He walked over to Clear and pecked him on the lips before sitting down. He was soon followed by 4 more men, including Mink all giving Clear the same gesture of affection.  
“So who’s the new guy?” asked the blond.  
“Aoba! He’s still not sure if he’s going to stay though.” Clear sighed,”Aoba, this is Noiz, thats Koujaku, Ren, and.....oh, he’s late again.”  
“Are you surprised?” Asked the dark haired man called Ren.  
“Hey! I was taking a showing don’t act like I don’t care!” the voice coming from behind Aoba was voice was followed by a familiar laugh.  
“Mizuki!” he jumped up out of his seat and saw him, his hair, his eyes, his face, it really was him! Aoba threw his arms around his old friend and held on to him like he was drowning and Misuki was a life vest.  
“Holy shit! Aoba! Mink, you brought home, Aoba!?” He cupped Aoba’s face in his hands,”You look like hell! What have they been doing to you?”  
“Thats not important right now! Holy crap, Mizuki, I thought you were dead! I could kiss you!”  
“Well, you could.” Mizuki joked. Aoba laughed and playfully nudged him away, his hands wandered over his friend’s toned arms and chest,”You look good. Much better then when I last saw you.”  
“Yeah, my boys take good care of me. Now, c’mon, eat, you on the other hand look like you might drop dead any second.” Aoba smiled, sat back down, and ate as much as he knew he could handle.

When breakfast was done Aoba helped Clear with the dishes, the rest of the boys sat in the large living room talking amongst themselves, however Mink immediately went into the hall and diapered.  
“So, all of you were in my situation? And, you’re all happy here?” Aoba asked, not taking his eyes off the plate he was scrubbing.  
“Yes, Koujaku has been here the longest, Mizuki is the newest,” Clear smiled,”Unless you decide to stay.”  
“Dibs!” Mizuki called from the next room rocketing his hand into the air.  
“You can’t call dibs on new guys. They never just belong to one of us.” Noiz smacked Mizuki’s hand out of the air. Aoba stopped cleaning. What did that mean? Belong to someone? Was he right about this place?  
“You scared him!” Aoba snapped out of his daze as Koujaku scolded the other men,”Ignore them, they make polyamory sound like some kind of slave trade.”  
“Oh,” that explained everyone with Clear.  
“You don’t have to be a part of us if you stay,” Koujaku continued,” but it’s nice, you’re never lonely, you always have someone to hold, and we know better than anyone how to help when it comes to nightmares, panic attacks, or whatever else might happen.”  
Aoba smiled to himself, maybe staying wasn’t the worst, it actually sounded nice, but maybe his mind would change as the day wore on, after all it was still early.


	5. Chapter 5

Meanwhile, as Aoba was in what seemed like heaven his brother, Sei, was still in hell. He was constantly disoriented and couldn’t tell if it was night or day because of the eye mask strapped to his face. He used to be able to take them off, but after being changed so much,he straps became more and more elaborate, and he was eventually unable to remove them. For now, he was alone in deafening silence, knowing he could never truly let his guard down, the anxiety was almost enough to kill him. Sei reached down to his ankles and flinched at the stinging sensation that immediately followed the touch. The areas were sensitive, raw, and in some places sticky with dry blood. As winter went on, the large, dressed up, attic room he was kept in got colder and colder, even wrapping in the blankets around him did little to keep out the cold, his metabolism was slow and his body stayed, for the most part, cold.

Hearing footsteps Sei lifted his head towards the sound.   
“Sei,” Virus, was the last person Sei wanted to hear from. He would have preferred yet another stranger. “Your dear, precious brother… well, how do I put this? He’s gone missing,” Sei’s breathe stopped, Aoba was gone? Soon his breath came back but is was slow and shaky. “And now that he’s gone you’re our main source of income in this line of work.” As Virus spoke he inched closer to Sei until he was lying on his back again. “If you know anything about this, you’d tell me, right?” Virus had to be lying, Aoba couldn’t really be gone. Could he? But they just spoke a few days ago, Aoba was going to get them both away from this. His whole body felt numb, the feeling started in his head and descended into his torso, arms, legs, and toes, he didn’t even feel the tears soaking the eye mask. Virus threw his leg over Sei, straddling his hips and gazing down at the sight below him. Sei’s skin was soft and milky white, his hair framed his face and pooled around him like ink, and his expression of hopelessness and submissiveness was enough to make a sick person go wild.  
“So you really don’t know. What a shame, we were such big fans of your brother, you know?” Virus leaned down to Sei’s ear, “It looks like you’re our new number one, Sei.”

“Virus, we’ve got time, we should get him cleaned up.” Trips voice came from the direction of the doorway. Virus climbed off of Sei and walked over to his partner, lightly caressing his cheek. “You do it. You’re so much better at not damaging the merchandise, and taking care of that annoyingly difficult hair.” He looked up, and his hand moved from Trip’s cheek to his hair where he plucked out a strand that was red at the root. “Or perhaps not. I’ll go get the bleach while you take care of Sei.” Trip said his goodbyes and walked over to the bed, Sei could hear the sound of keys in Trips pocket before he felt pressure released from his wrists and ankles. He didn’t struggle as he was picked up by Trip and carried into a bathroom to be groomed like an animal. A bath was drawn for him and as much as he hated to admit it, the hot water felt nice in comparison to the icy cage he lived in. In a way, he was grateful for this time of healing, but in heart he knew it was to keep up appearance and maybe even make the next time he was hurt even worse. Trip soon got to work trimming Sei’s nails, cleaning dirt in hard to get places, and shaving his legs, arms, etc. After all, he was meant to be a precious item, “The Blind Princess”, perfect, beautiful, clean, and obedient. Sei, however, did his best to forget all of this when he was being cleaned, for now at least, he could imagine someplace better.  
“Stay put, I’m coming right back.” Trip said, pouring something into the bath water and stirring it with his hand. Sei nodded and Trip left the room most likely to change the bedding and check if Virus needed to buy more lube and condoms while he was out. The thought of that made Sei almost laugh, a man out buying lube, condoms, and hair bleach; it almost sounded like some kind of game Aoba and he could play: Try to make the cashier as uncomfortable as possible with three items or less. Sei often daydreamed about a normal life with his brother and was about to keep going but was harshly pulled back to reality when the unpleasant feeling of water being poured over his hair made him wince in pain.   
“Tilt back your head.” Sei did as he was told and Trip poured more water over the inky black hair, gently running his fingers though it. It hurt, but not as much as when Virus did it, Trip treated Sei like an animal: if you hurt it too much and it dies, it becomes useless. Virus treated him like a doll: something you could be as rough with as you like because in the end it can’t feel anything anyhow. Next came the shampoo, which tingled as it was rubbed though his hair, but as Trip scrubbed it in Sei found it hard not to cry out in pain and instead quietly whimpered. This happened twice before he finally put conditioner on the ends, and quickly washed it out. 

When he was done being washed he was towel dried and then told to place his hand out in fount of himself. Sei heard something like a plastic case being opened and a few things being taken out, two plastic bottles of something, something metal, and one more item Sei’s acute hearing couldn’t quite understand. He heard the sound of a cap being unscrewed and then one of Trips large, rough hands grabbed on to the spot just above Sei’s wrist before a burning sensation tore its way through his arm. He screamed, “Ouch! Wh-what are you doing?”  
“If your cuts get infected then you’re as good as useless,” Trip gave Sei’s arm a rough squeeze. “Now, shut up and deal with it, you’re lucky I’m doing this for you.” That must have been alcohol, the next was hydrogen peroxide, Sei could tell by the fizzing sensation on his wrist, it was patted dry with a towel, the metal object was a pair of scissors and the mystery item was bandages. The bandages were wrapped around his other wrist and ankles.

The taller man was just locking Sei back up when Virus returned and went to check up on him.  
“Nice work but, the bruises, don’t you think that could put some people off?”  
“I thought they were kind of pretty, in their own way. But you’re right.”  
“Here,” Sei could hear the rustling of a plastic bag, “It was next to imposable to find concealer light enough for him.” The viscous liquid was applied all over him; his ribs, hips, neck, face, anyplace that had a bruise. This happened about once every two weeks. Sei knew, now he looked “perfect” again.  
“You’re as pretty as a princess.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I have no excuse

“See if these fit,” Mizuki handed Aoba some folded clothes, “they’re mine so they should fit.” Aoba gladly took the clothes and changed into them, it was just a t-shirt and sweat pants but heaven compared to what he normally wore. Mizuki took all of Aoba’s old clothes in his arms, “So, do we burn these or...?”  
“I never said I was staying just yet.” Aoba responds.  
Mizuki sighed, “You’re actually considering going back?” Aoba said nothing and looked down, his friend took his hand, “Never mind. C’mon, Aoba, let me show you something.” He pulled Aoba out of his room and down the hall and knocked on one of the doors. A few seconds passed of Mizuki tapping his foot on the hardwood floor before Clear opened the door.  
“Can Aoba come and see the zoo?” Mizuki asked innocently with his hands behind his back.  
“Yeah! Of course! Come in,” Clear stepped aside for the other two to walk in. “Aoba, this is my room, I share it with Noiz. Make yourself at home.” Mizuki wasn’t lying when he called this place a zoo. Inside the room was pretty dark, it was lit mainly by two glass tanks; one filled with water, and the other with sand, neon lights. Candles filled with room with the scent of vanilla bean and marshmallow probably masking the stench of the animals sprawled all over the place. One animal that really caught his eye was a small, dark, Pomeranian snuggled against a white ferret. "That’s Ren and Ink. You can pet them if you like." Mizuki said, scratching the back of Ink's ear.  
Aoba let the dog sniff him before petting his head and scratching behind his ears. Clear came and sat on the floor next to his bed, "Animals can be such a comfort. They helped me a lot when I first came here, but that was three years ago. Now all my pets are my friends! But especially my jellyfish, wanna see them?" He didn't give Aoba much of a choice as he pulled him over to the large, glowing tank on his side of the room, "They're moon jellys! They need a special tank and filter so they don't get caught up in anything, and they're really expensive but Noiz got them for my birthday and-"   
"Don't talk his ear off." It was Noiz, who had come in from the outside, via a patio door holding one of the biggest rabbits Aoba had ever seen.  
"Sorry..."Clear says softly, "Is that Thumper? Is he alright?"   
"He's fine, the others are picking on him, and so I'm keeping him inside for a while." He let the fifteen pound rabbit hop onto his bed and snuggle into the soft black sheets. Clear crawled onto Noiz's bed and pet the large rabbit and nuzzled his face in the soft bunny.   
Noiz rolled his eyes and sat next to Clear and started to gently play with his hair. "So, Aoba, have you met all the animals yet? Or just Ren, Ink, and Thumper?"   
"Nope, just them."   
Noiz started pointing around the room, "Those are my bearded dragons, Steven and Fattycus, Koujaku's little bird Beni, Mink's big bird Tori, and my three other rabbits, Usagi, Mo, and Doki."  
Ren’s ears perked up and he crawled into Aoba’s lap as if to say that he was much more loving than some fuzzy noodle. Noiz chuckled, "Well if you're counting all the animals in the house I think Clear is the most loving."   
"I’m not an animal!" He whines, lifting his face from thumper’s soft fur.  
Mizuki grabbed Aoba’s arm and pulled his out of the room and quietly shut the door. "Eh? What was that for?"   
"They argue and then they fuck," He put his hand on Aoba's back, "c'mon, let’s go make some chai."  
Mizuki couldn’t help but giggle when he saw Koujaku and Ren were cuddling on the hardwood floor of the living room, enjoying the warm fireplace, "You two want chai?" Koujaku hums a yes and snuggles his face into Ren’s neck.   
"You're all so cute." Aoba remarks as he watches the two.  
"You could be a part of it if you stay." Mizuki said pulling a few mugs from the cupboards and a pot to boil water in.  
Aoba hopped onto the white counter and sat himself down, swinging his legs back and forth. "Maybe, but are you sure I wouldn’t just be an add in? I mean no one here knows me and-" Mizuki shut him up with a quick peck on the lips "I do. And I already love you. Trust me, I felt the same way when I first got here."  
Aoba touched his lips and smiled, "Really? You were always such a flirt. I’d think you’d fit right in."   
"Well being a person others can fall in love with rather than a flirt are two very different things, but it all starts as flirting. My point is it's easier to fall in love here than you think. Koujaku over there made me feel so welcome and warm and now here I am...head over heels for him...and Ren...and Noiz...an-"   
"Ahahah! I get it, I get it! I'll think about it, I really will." Mizuki finished their tea and set more cups by Ren and Koujaku, then took Aoba to the couch to talk and enjoy the falling snow outside. A few minutes had passed before Aoba heard his name called.  
“Aoba,” he looked up from his sleepy spot on Mizuki’s shoulder and saw Mink standing in the doorway, ”can I speak with you?” Aoba knew it was best just to go with him, Mizuki had fallen asleep anyhow.   
“What do you need? Did I do some-”Mink held up his hand effectively shutting the much smaller man’s mouth.  
“You need a bath.” Mink gestures for Aoba to follow and they go to the back of the hall and into the master bedroom. It was huge and the bed touched from one end to the other, but Aoba can’t spend too long staring at it before Mink nudges him into the bathroom. The bathtub is filled with hot bubbly water.  
“Is this…for me?”  
“Yes, I’ll be in here too, we need to talk.”  
“Can’t it wait until after?” He wasn’t really too excited to be undressing in front of strangers any time soon. Mink put his hand on Aoba’s shoulder and did his best to smile.  
“It’s symbolic. A way to let go of your past and join our family.”   
“Fine.” Aoba got undressed and carefully lowered himself into the tub, a warm bath was nice. It smelled like a clay pipe that had been used for various herbs for years, very homey. Mink sat next to the tub on a wooden stool, his sleeves were rolled up and he gently pulled one of Aoba’s arms from the water and starting massaging his hand.  
“I don’t even know if I’m gonna stay yet...you really shouldn’t do this... “  
“Yes, you are going to stay.”  
“You never said I had to! What if I want you leave?”  
“You don’t. Do you really want to go back to your abusers? To people who rent you out like property? I’ve been doing this a long time, Aoba. Everyone here is safe, I want that for you to.”  
“But why? You don’t even know me...”  
“Because, I’ve seen how awful those who have been forced into sex work are treated. It’s not right. But no one cares,” He sighs, “What could you have to go back for? I’ll give you a home here.” Aoba pulls his arm back.  
“My brother...I have a twin brother, he won’t make it without me!” It suddenly hit him like a bus. How could he forget Sei? He stood up and practically jumped out of the tub and would have broken his nose falling over if it wasn’t for Mink grabbing him.  
“Let go I need to help him my brother he- he won’t be okay without me!” Tears started well in his eyes and he kicked about trying to get free of Mink’s grip.  
“Calm down!” He did. But not in the best way, he just went limp sobbing.  
“They’re gonna hurt him...I need Sei to be safe!” Mink sighed and carried Aoba to the bed and gave him a robe to put on, “I need my clothes! I need to leave!” He tried to refuse the robe but Mink didn’t budge, and he eventually slipped it on. He started to breath slower and the tears were less violent and when Mink felt Aoba could talk he sat next to him.  
“We’ll get your brother.”


End file.
